The Wetsuit Group

The three presented faces are Rodney ‘Gopher’ Sumpter (English Champion), Randy Rarick (USA) and Chris Jones (UK). They are wearing the classic wetsuit style of the 1970 models, being cut and stitched up out of neoprene rubber sheets. At this time, wetsuits were the factor that had one of the greatest impacts on the sport of surfing, particularly here in the cold water at Bells and helped shape the surfing world into what it is today. This picture shows the prime designs of the era, which tended to be sleeveless and joined with short and long leg models. Often the long arm part was a separate jacket. I remember them causing a lot of armpit chafing problems. Bells that year was a major testing ground for wetsuits from all different countries. Ripcurl was busy measuring up and giving out samples for the top surfers to test.